Jury finds Oakes not guilty on Federal charges

September 21, 2011

By

Kim Ross

A Poteau man who was indicted in Federal Court on
firearms charges was released from custody last
Wednesday after a jury found him not guilty.
Randall Wayne Oakes, 41, of Poteau was arrested in
May after an altercation that occurred at his home early
in the morning.
According to the affidavit, around 8 a.m. Tuesday
morning, Kasi Morgan Albert, 25, and John David
Albert II, 27, both of Poteau, arrived at a family member's
home on the corner of North Saddler and Gassaway
Drive to retrieve some of Kasi Albertâ€™s belongings.
According to the arrest report, officers received a call
from Kasi Albert claiming her uncle, Randall Oakes,
40, of Poteau, had assaulted her then shot at John Albert
II. Kasi Albert told police that when she entered her
granfatherâ€™s home, Oakes and Jessica Neal, 27, of
Poteau were asleep inside the home. Kasi Albert said
that when she woke Oakes up to help her with her
belongings they began to argue. She told police that she
ran out of the home and told John Albert II to call the
police and warned him that Oakes was getting a gun.
According to statements from the victims, Oakes
came out of the house and fired a handgun at John
Albert II as he drove away, at which time Kasi Albert
ran from the home to hide until police arrived.
Officers arrived on the scene to find Oakes and Neal
sitting on the front porch of the home and ordered
Oakes onto the ground at gunpoint. Once Oakes was in
custody, they searched the home to confirm there was
no one injured inside and began investigating the incident.
While officers interviewed Kasi Albert at the scene,
they noticed bruises and red marks on her upper arms
and neck. She claimed the bruises had been caused by
Oakes on a previous day, but the red marks were from
the altercation that had just occurred.
Officerâ€™s searched the residence for weapons possibly
involved in the alleged incident and recovered a
Hi-Point 9 mm semi-automatic pistol that had two
magazines with it and a total of seven rounds of ammunition.
The pistol was located in Oakes' fatherâ€™s room,
but during a search of Oakes' room officers reportedly
located 9 mm and 380 caliber ammunition, a twelve
gauge shotgun shell, small ziplock baggies and a used
hypodermic syringe. Also found during a search of the
scene was a spent 9 mm shell found beside the front
porch Oakes and Neal were sitting on when officers
arrived.
According to Oakes' statement to the police, he
denied firing a gun at John Albert II, but admitted to
having fired a gun the night before. In Nealâ€™s statement
she claimed she was asleep and heard nothing, but that
Oakes woke her up allegedly saying he had just shot at
Kasi Albert's boyfriend.
Oakes was arrested and jailed at the LeFlore County
Detention Center and later transported to Muskogee
County to await a federal jury trial on charges of a convicted
felon in possession of a firearm and a convicted
felon in possession of ammunition.
Oakes' trial in the Eastern District of Oklahoma
Federal Court began on September 12 and on September
14, the jury rendered their verdict. The jury announced
they had found Oakes not guilty in both counts. He was
subsequently released from custody.